WOLVERINE (16) [1796]

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WOLVERINE	(16)	Gun-brig	Built in 1796. Originally a merchant vessel named RATTLER, she was purchased in March 1798 and fitted out at Deptford. Sunk in 1804.
	(16)	1798 Capt. Lewes MORTLOCK. She was part of the force that landed 1300 troops under Major General Coote at Ostend in May. WOLVERINE was badly damaged by shore batteries and had 1 seaman and 1 soldier killed and 10 seamen and 5 soldiers wounded. The army blew up the locks and gates on the Bruges canal but was then forced to surrender. During the first week of July WOLVERINE was with ROMNEY (50) and CHAMPION (24) when they fell in with a Swedish convoy escorted by a 44-gun frigate. Three of the largest merchantmen were captured. At the end of July nine Dutch fishing boats were captured off Ostend and brought into the Downs. On 4 January 1799, during an action with two French luggers off Boulogne, incendiary devices were thrown though the stern cabin windows and their opponents escaped while the fire was extinguished. Capt. MORTLOCK was wounded and died on 10 January. Command of WOVERINE was given to Capt. John MACKELLAR, but on 24 January he was appointed to CHARON. 1799 William BOLTON. On 9 September 1799 ARROW and WOLVERINE were detached by Vice-Ad. MITCHELL to attack a ship and a brig belonging to the Batavian Republic and anchored under the island of Ulie at the entrance to the Texel. ARROW had to lighten ship and the following day they crossed over the Flack abreast of Wieringen and saw the enemy in the passage leading from Vlie Island towards Harlingen. WOLVERINE anchored within 60 yards of the brig and only had to fire one gun before she hauled down her colours. She proved to be the GIER, armed with fourteen 12-pounders. ARROW exchanged broadsides with the ship, DRAAK, 24, which surrendered when WOLVERINE came up. DRAAK turned out to be a sheer hulk so Capt. BOLTON burnt her. They weighed on the 15th. and WOLVERINE went to take possession of a Batavian ship, the DOLPHIN, near Vlie which hoisted Orange colours as soon as the English came up. Two hundred and thirty prisoners were put aboard her and the command given to Lieut. M'DOUGAL of WOLVERINE. Command of the GIER, a brand new vessel, was given to Lieut. GILMOUR of ARROW. On Friday the 26 September 1799 WOLVERINE, HAUGHTY and PIERCER anchored near ESPIEGLE some 6 miles off Lemmer in West Friesland to organise an attack the following morning. Capt. BOORDER of ESPIEGLE had discovered that the enemy had 1,000 regular troops to defend the place and to augment the flotilla he had taken two schoots which he had armed with two 6-pounders each. Early on Saturday morning Capt. BOLTON sent Capt. BOORDER ashore with the following letter: ' Resistance on your part is in vain. I give you one hour to send away your women and children; if the town is not surrendered to the British arms for the Prince of Orange, your soldiers shall be buried in its ruins. ' The answer from Commandant Van Groutten requested 24 hours delay but Capt. BOLTON replied that, if the Orange colours were not hoisted in half an hour, he was opening fire. Although his Dutch pilot insisted that the water was too shallow, Capt. BOLTON pushed WOLVERINE through the oozy mud for two miles until he was a musket shot from the shore. The two gun brigs passed ahead until they grounded within a pistol shot of the pier which had been reinforced with some 18-pounders from Dutch gunboats. Notwithstanding the flag of truce the enemy opened a heavy fire which was returned by the squadron, and the action continued for an hour until the soldiers fled from the town and PIERCER's boat's crew planted the British standard on the pier. Later the wind came round to the southward and freshened to a gale. WOLVERINE's bow was hove around with difficulty and by using a heavy press of sail she was dragged through the mud into 11 feet of water. The gunbrigs were pulled clear by flatboats. On the Monday morning the enemy advanced towards the town along the northern causeway and Capt. BOLTON sent word to warn Capt. BOORDER. Because the town was nearly surrounded by water, a few men in flat boats were able to defend the place and the enemy were soon in retreat. For later enemy attacks on Lemmer see ESPIEGLE. 1800 Lieut. Jeff. RIEGERSFIELD, Yarmouth Roads. Later in the Channel Islands, arriving in Portsmouth from Guernsey on 20 June. 1800 John WRIGHT, Marcou. He sent a prize, the CATHERINE of Bordeaux, laden with wine into Portsmouth on 10 August. On the morning of the 19 August 1800 he found that a part of an enemy convoy, consisting of two large sloops, were attempting to escape from the mouth of the river Isigny and and run along shore to the eastward. So, supported by SPARKLER and FORCE, he went in pursuit. The enemy ran themselves ashore in Grand Camp, the entrance being commanded by batteries on either side which WOLVERINE bombarded for nearly an hour. Lieut. STEPHENS of SPARKLER and Lieut. TOKELEY of FORCE covered Lieut. GREGORY of WOLVERINE who went in with the the cutter and the jolly boat and a party of Royal Marines to board the largest vessel and set her on fire. They were under fire from three field pieces and about 200 men with muskets. The other vessel was completely shot through. The only casualties were three men on WOLVERINE who were burnt by an explosion of gunpowder. The enemy lost at least four men on the beach. When WOLVERINE entered Portsmouth on 17 September she brought with her the NEPTUNUS laden with naval stores which Capt. Wright had captured when she was going into Havre de Grace. WOVERENE sailed again for Havre on the 26th. On Sunday the 2 November Capt. WRIGHT discovered a French cutter under the land about 4 miles E. S. E. of Cape Barfleur light- house. He prevented her getting round the Cape and ran her ashore inside a reef of rocks under the village of Gouberville. She struck hard and because a gale was blowing up he assumed that she would be destroyed. 1800 Lieut. Jeff. REIGERSFIELD, Yarmouth Roads. 1804 Henry GORDON. On March 24 1804, while escorting a convoy to Newfoundland, WOLVERINE was in action with two French privateers, one, BLONDE, mounting 36 guns and the other 20. After three quarters of an hour she surrendered in a sinking condition. A letter was received in Portsmouth during August from one of her officers saying that the crew had been marched nearly 900 miles from where they were landed to Verdun.

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